5 insights into Kansas women’s basketball’s offseason with coach Brandon Schneider
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LAWRENCE — Kansas women’s basketball will look to bounce back next season, after a disappointing 2024-25 campaign.
The Jayhawks finished at 16-14 overall, including an early loss in the Big 12 Conference tournament. Coach Brandon Schneider outlined recently they elected not to pursue any further postseason events after that exit. After two NCAA tournament appearances in the past three seasons, and other postseason success on top of that, the review of this past campaign doesn’t grade out at the level the program had worked toward enjoying.
But there is reason for optimism as the offseason continues. That’s both because of what Kansas is adding to the roster, and what it is bringing back. It’s just a matter of how the Jayhawks can live up to the potential that will come with that optimism.
Here are five takeaways from a recent conversation with Schneider:
What led Kansas to recruit Lilly Meister?
Lilly Meister recently signed with Kansas as a transfer forward from Indiana. Schneider noted a need the Jayhawks had to address this offseason was help on their front line, and he felt they exceeded that with Meister. And the ties to Meister date back to before she’d even decided to start her college career at IU.
Schneider volunteered he can still remember, to this day, when Meister called and said she would be going to Indiana. Schneider thinks she appreciated how his coaching staff handled that news, and that this time around KU would be a school she would strongly consider. Of course, the makeup of the roster and her fit within it were also things that crossed Schneider’s mind.
Schneider acknowledged he wanted to find a player for the five-spot last offseason, too, but wasn’t able to get it done and found the market for one — in this new day and age of college athletics — to be more expensive than initially planned. Earning Meister’s signature isn’t about replacing a recent star like Taiyanna Jackson. It’s about bringing in someone who pairs well with a returning player like forward Regan Williams and incoming freshmen like forward Jaliya Davis.
How did Brandon Schneider react to the players who decided to transfer away?
The departures from Kansas' roster through the transfer portal have included guard Wyvette Mayberry committing to Arkansas, guard Zoe Canfield, a Topeka native, picking Missouri State and forward Freddie Wallace choosing Arizona. Time will tell how everything ends up here with the roster from 2024-25 as a whole. However, Schneider did not come across as incredibly concerned with the departures that have happened.
In college athletics, athletes are going to want to go and see where they can find more playing time. This offseason especially, though, considering what Kansas is bringing in, it’s possible the desire to search for that elsewhere is going to heighten. He described the recruiting class the Jayhawks are bringing in as the best they’ve signed during his tenure in Lawrence.
How much is Brandon Schneider looking forward to working with this recruiting class?
When Schneider talks about the 2025 class being the best recruiting class he’s had at Kansas, he’s alluding to three 247Sports Composite five-star players in Davis, guard Keeley Parks and guard Libby Fandel, as well as an incoming freshman forward in Tatyonna Brown. Those four, along with Meister, are players he expects to rely upon immediately. In short, he’s looking forward to when they all step foot on campus in June.
Schneider thinks good players want to play with good players, and that there can be a domino effect as people make their commitments. Just as Parks knows and respects Fandel, he noted Davis knows and respects Parks. And that doesn’t even take into account guard S’Mya Nichols, one of the best guards in the game, is going to be back next season for the Jayhawks.
What does it mean to have S’Mya Nichols back?
Schneider doesn’t think in this current landscape of college athletics that someone should ever assume, regardless of how close to home a player is or the relationship between that player and the coaching staff, that someone is just going to be back if that option is there. However Nichols, a first team All-Big 12 honoree this past season, is. Speaking generally, Schneider outlined how much his coaching staff puts in to developing relationships, that the Lawrence community has supported their players and that there is financial support behind making being at Kansas an advantageous option for athletes.
Schneider also doesn’t think Nichols is anywhere close to reaching her potential as a player, and when it comes to intangibles there are gains that can be made as well. Schneider said it’s his job to challenge her to realize what’s possible for her as a player during her time with the Jayhawks. Should she reach her capabilities, it’s hard to imagine KU not being a NCAA tournament team next season.
What are Kansas’ expectations for next season?
Schneider simply noted this program is at a place where if it isn’t in the NCAA tournament, they aren’t happy. So, again, what happened this past season was disappointing. The standard is there, it’s about meeting it and seeing what happens next.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Analyzing Kansas women’s basketball’s offseason with Brandon Schneider
